News

Japanese Box Office, January 14-15

The anime adaptation of Mary Pope Osborne's American novel series Magic Tree House fell from No. 3 to No. 4 during its second weekend. Since 1992, American author Mary Pope Osborne has been writing the original children's books about Jack and Annie, two siblings who go on adventures throughout time with a mysterious tree house. The anime film is based on Ayana Amako's illustrations for the Japanese edition of the book series, as opposed to Salvatore Murdocca's illustrations for the original American edition. The film earned US$991,734 on 178 screens for a gross-to-date of US$3,388,436.

The 3D computer-animated film Friends: Mononoke Shima no Naki (Friends: Naki of Monster Island) dropped from No. 4 to No. 6 during its fifth weekend. The live-action Space Battleship Yamato film's Takashi Yamazaki wrote and directed the film. SMAP band member Shingo Katori stars as Naki, a red oni (Japanese demon/ogre). Veteran voice actor Kouichi Yamadera (Cowboy Bebop's Spike, Evangelion's Kaji) plays a blue oni named Gunjō. The film earned US$834,264 on 334 screens for a new total of US$17,649,324.

Inazuma Eleven GO: Kyūkyoku no Kizuna Griffon (Ultimate Bond Griffon), the second film in the Inazuma Eleven soccer role-playing game franchise, dropped from No. 5 to No. 7 during its fourth weekend. The Inazuma Eleven GO storyline is set one decade after the first Inazuma Eleven storyline; the television anime premiered in May. The film is playing in stereoscopic 3D and traditional 2D. The film earned US$679,813 on 274 screens for a new total of US$13,603,826.

Eiga Kaibutsu-kun, the 3D live-action film adaptation of Fujiko Fujio A's Kaibutsu-kun supernatural action manga starring 30-year-old Arashi band member Satoshi Ohno, dropped from No. 6 to No. 8 during its eighth weekend. Ohno had starred in a live-action television series version and a spinoff television special in 2010. The film earned the equivalent of US$616,547 on 330 screens for a new total of US$39,333,288.

The Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Fourze & OOO: Movie Taisen Mega Max film dropped from No. 7 to No. 9 during its sixth weekend. The film features the first seven Kamen Riders as well as the casts of both the Kamen Rider Fourze and Kamen Rider OOO series. The film ranked at No. 10 on Box Office Mojo's chart and earned the equivalent of US$458,068 on 290 screens for a gross-to-date of US$18,982,811.

Naoko Yamada and Kyoto Animation's K-ON! anime film fell from No. 11 to No. 13 on Box Office Mojo's chart in its seventh weekend. The film depicts the five female members of Sakuragaoka High School's light music club in a story not seen in the television series. The original television voice cast reprised their respective roles in the movie. The film earned US$374,544 on 126 screens for a gross-to-date of US$19,663,572.

The live-action film adaptation of Mikiya Mochizuki's police action manga Wild 7 directed by Umizaru's Eiichirō Hasumi dropped from No. 10 to No. 14 on Box Office Mojo's chart during its fourth weekend. In Mochizuki's original manga, a police bureaucrat forms a secret police team out of seven motorcycle-riding outlaws to judge and even execute criminals that the regular police cannot touch. Actor Eita (Nodame Cantabile, Azumi, Densha Otoko) plays Dairoku Hiba, the young leader of the Wild 7. The film earned US$327,293 on 292 screens for a gross-to-date of US$7,464,912.

Travel back in time (and maybe have your gender swapped) to seven different periods of Japanese history, all from the comfort of your couch.― The history of Japanese civilization is expansive, predating the Common Era by 10,000 years (the Jomon period). There's much more ground to cover compared to what kids get in U.S. history classes in high school, which rarely cover anything before the Boston T...

Junji Ito's death-stench horror gets the deluxe treatment with a new hardcover omnibus, but the subject matter might not work for everyone.― Junji Ito is inarguably one of the masters of horror manga, utilizing both horror (physical revulsion) and terror (psychological reaction) to create gut-churning tales of the world gone mad. To a degree, he carries this out in his two-volume series Gyo from 200...

Voice actor/director/professional Dungeons & Dragons player Liam O'Brien returns to the podcast after a 5-year hiatus to discuss his roles in Fate/Zero and Sailor Moon, along with the landscape for anime voice acting now and what it's like to be Gollum.― ANNCast Episode 234: Podcastoes O'Brien Get the Flash Player to see this player. Voice actor/director/professional Dungeons & Dragons player Liam ...

If you went to an anime convention this summer or have used the internet lately, you may notice anime fans seem to have fallen in love with Steven Universe. Why? Because the show loves them right back.― If you've been to an anime convention in the past year, you've probably seen colorful, gem-studded cosplay like this filling the hallways. Photo credit links: top left, top right, bottom left, bottom...

If you've got questions for the director of the high-flying fantasy series The Pilot's Love Song, we've potentially got answers for you!― We've been given the opportunity to interview The Pilot's Love Song director Toshimasa Suzuki, and we need your help! NISA, who will be releasing the fantasy action drama The Pilot's Love Song on bluray September 22nd, asked for fan questions for Mr. Suzuki, whos...

Bee-Train's 2001 girls-with-guns classic returns on Blu-Ray, and holds up surprisingly well, despite some mediocre animation.― Not all older series deserve the Blu-Ray treatment. For some it is because the show just isn't as iconic as people might like to think, while for others it's because the quality was never BD worthy in the first place. Noir, fortunately, does hold up well enough that its tran...

Egypt Arc is JoJo in peak condition, as memorable and engaging an adventure as you could hope for. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is back.― When we last left our heroes, they'd just arrived on the shores of Egypt, escaping the literal jaws of defeat in order to finally save Jotaro's mother. The journey there had been a lengthy and sometimes inconsistent one, with their various adventures indeed being plen...

The creator of the hit manga, recently adapted into a popular anime series, talks about her inspirations, how she got her start, and what it's like to watch your manga become a TV show.― As you might guess from the story, the main character of the story is a high school roughneck named Ryu Yamada. Yamada meets cute, quiet, and studious Urara Shiraishi, who is his complete opposite in almost every wa...